Killing my NPCs

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Tell me about it. The PCs IMC are all about 12th level. For the last session, I built a pumped-up nimblewright (from MM2), with added levels of martial artist for the AC boost and tons of feats. I did tone down the insane crit range from 12-20 to 15-20, but I also switched out Improved Disarm for Improved Trip. So I had this thing with AC 31, 34 when fighting defensively, a +25 attack bonus, an automatic trip attack on a crit, plus a follow up attack after each successful trip.

I think I rolled 5 or 6 criticals in that fight. How many trip attacks succeeded? One. Gah!

That's quite gutting - on the upside - it did manage a number of crits... which can be messy! And at least it didn't just roll over and die on them.

I supose it cuts both ways. The reverse can be quite mortifying as well(for the players!).

I remember running an encounter - small band of basic MM trolls fighting a highish level party (~12th IIRC). It was meant to be a fairly easy 'distraction' fight, to keep the PCs busy while they were trying to work something else out... however, my dice loved this lot - almost every roll was 18+ - rends and crits all over the place. Ended up with 1 overconfident and dead Fighter PC - most of the others in need of some serious healing... Wasn't the expected result, but taught them not to get overconfident!

Maybe I should post these creations in the Rogues Gallery for posterity.

It's got to be worth a go! Besides, after all that work a DM with 'lucky dice day' might get some revenge with them.

 

[diaglo]

had one NPC last 10 years Real time...but he was a demi-lich.

but i've also had some last 5 minutes.

i don't dwell too much on the gearhead part. i work on making them fit the campaign. but needless to say if they have some levels in my campaign...they didn't get them the easy way...so these guys can be a bit tough.

 

[barsoomcore]

I ran my first Skull & Bones game on Saturday and realised as I was creating two PCs (I usually offer to create PCs for players who have ideas but not time to learn the rules) -- one of the main reasons I'm a DM is because I look through sourcebooks, pore over class descriptions and feats and whatnot, and go, "Cool."

I want to PLAY an Iaijutsu Master. A Shadowdancer. A Cancer Mage. The only way I'll ever get to create and tweak and play with all these cool classes is if I DM and then set about creating NPCs who can make use of them. So yeah, it can get frustrating when the PCs smack them down in a round or two, but like hong says -- it's just an opportunity to create ANOTHER.

I had so much fun statting up my Demon Goddess (which of course I did as soon as D&DG came out) -- her stat block is three pages long -- it was just so much fun to hold up the sheet and show it to the players and say, "Here's your enemy. Stand by while I figure out how many spells she gets to cast in the surprise round."

Moments like that make all those one-round deaths worthwhile.

 

[jerichothebard]

I managed recently to have an NPC villian return not once, not twice, but four times! I was very proud of myself.

The character in question was a lich spawn - basically what happens when you apply the lich template to a low-level character and reduce a few of the DCs. And, his phlactery, for the first few encounters, was safely in the care of his master... whom the players are now starting to investigate.

The first time they encountered him, he was all set to make a smooth getaway, but the players had other ideas. The monk leaped down a three-story stairwell that the lich was trying to run down as his escape route (this is before the monk gained slowfall, I might add!), nat 20'd his tumble check, and beat the tar out of this poor villian. It was an amazing and daring move.

I had intended to make him a recurring villian, but this just made it personal.

In the final encounter, they gained access to his phylactery, which they donated to "The Zoo" - a heavily fortified jail in the heart of a mountain, which is where the Hunters of the Dead train. So, now, neophyte Hunters get to destroy him repeatedly for their own education and amusement, and he is stuck eternally regenerating, only to be destroyed again and again.

A fate worse than undeath.

 

[Darkness]

I'll happily spend an hour tweaking an NPC bad guy in terms of feats, skills, classes and items, to get things just right.

Then the PCs will kill him in ten minutes.

I save almost everything on the computer. Then, when I need an NPC with similar powers later, I start with a copy of the previous one, change the name and adjust as needed.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Hi Hong, my fellow gearhead!

Yesterday (sunday) I spent sixteen hours writing up a three NPCs the party will probably kill in an hour of RL time... :/ (It was fun, though! 2 lillends with maximum HD, the Monster of Legend-template and 10 class levels each; one cleric, one bard and one ranger.)

As for bringing back dead enemies; my players have become quite paranoid about that and I've only done it ONCE! Now they actually prefer to capture their enemies alive, figuring they can't come back from the dead if they're still alive...

 

[hong]

Okay, I've started a thread in the Rogues Gallery:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82227

 

[hong]

Hi Hong, my fellow gearhead!

Yesterday (sunday) I spent sixteen hours writing up a three NPCs the party will probably kill in an hour of RL time... :/ (It was fun, though! 2 lillends with maximum HD, the Monster of Legend-template and 10 class levels each; one cleric, one bard and one ranger.)

Ooh, templates are fun. I went nuts with the Savage Species templates when it first came out.

Must also post the half-fiend cryohydra that nearly sank the knight.